Michael Jackson Indicted In Molestation Case

By |April 22, 2004

Entertainer Michael Jackson was indicted yesterday on child molestation charges, setting the stage for another celebrity trial. The Los Angeles Times said that details of the indictment remained sealed. “Mr. Jackson and his attorneys remind the public that an indictment is merely a formal ‘accusation.’ We also remind the public that Michael Jackson, like any other person accused of a crime, is ‘presumed to be innocent,’ ” said his defense team.

Prosecutors allege that Jackson committed sexual acts with a 12-year-old boy at his Neverland Ranch last year. He has been charged with seven felony counts of child molestation and two counts of using an intoxicant to seduce a minor. Jackson’s attorneys have laid the groundwork for a legal challenge. In an April 2 hearing, a defense attorney contended that prosecutors had failed to adequately present grand jurors with evidence favorable to his client, as the law requires.

The legislation marks a major change for Republicans, who long hve embraced a law-and-order rallying cry. Now many GOP senators argue for rehabilitating more offenders rather than long-time incarceration.

An Arizona doctor argues that the government should have learned from previous federal anti-drug strategies that blanket prohibition doesn’t work. He calls for scrapping attempts to curtail opioids and replacing it with “harm reduction” policies.

Expensive medications for inmates can lead to substandard care and delays in treatment, and that may have lasting—even deadly—consequences for incarcerated individuals, writes a prison health care advocate.

Murder rates in the nation’s 30 largest cities are projected to fall by nearly 6 percent this year according to the latest data, undercutting claims that the nation is experiencing a “crime wave,” says the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

School safety commission proposes ending a federal guideline telling schools not to punish minorities at higher rates. The panel largely sidestepped issues relating to guns, although it favors arming some school personnel.